Education

Indiana University, H.S.D. in Health and Safety, 1973

Indiana University, M.S. in Health and Safety, 1968

Indiana University, B.S. in Education, 1965

Background

WILLIAM L. YARBER is professor of applied health science and adjunct professor of gender studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is also a senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction and the senior director of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention at IU.

Dr. Yarber, who received his doctorate from Indiana University, has authored or co-authored numerous scientific reports on sexual risk behavior and AIDS/STD prevention in professional journals and has received several federal and state grants to support his research and AIDS/STD prevention efforts. He is a member of the The Kinsey Institute Condom Use Research Team (CURT) comprised of researchers from Indiana University, University of Kentucky, University of Guelph (Canada), and University of Southampton (United Kingdom). For over 15 years, with federal and institutional research support, CURT has investigated male condom use errors and problems and has developed behavioral interventions designed to improve correct and consistent condom use.

He authored four school AIDS/STD prevention curricula (student book and instructor guide) published by professional organizations: STD: A Guide for Today’s Young Adults (1985); at the request of the U.S. government, Dr. Yarber authored the country’s first secondary school AIDS prevention education curriculum, AIDS: What Young People Should Know (1987); Looking into AIDS (1989); and STDs and HIV: A Guide for Today’s Young Adults (2003, 1993). Dr. Yarber also co-edited the Handbook of Sexuality-Related Measures, Third Edition (2011). Dr. Yarber is the lead author of Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America (Yarber, W., & Sayad, B., 9th edition, 2016, McGraw-Hill), a college human sexuality textbook used in over 300 colleagues and universities nationwide. This book was recently (2012) translated into Chinese and published by the Beijing World Publishing Company as the most up-to-date book on human sexuality published in China in the past 50 years. Also in 2012, the text was translated and published in Korea.

Dr. Yarber chaired the National Guidelines Task Force, which developed the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten–12th Grade (1991, 1996, 2004), published
by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) and adapted in six countries worldwide. Dr. Yarber is past president of The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) and a past chair of the SIECUS board of directors. His awards include the SSSS Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award, the Professional Standard of Excellence from the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, the Indiana University President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the inaugural Graduate Student Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award at Indiana University.

Dr. Yarber has been a consultant to the World Health Organization Global Program on AIDS as well as sexuality and HIV/STI-related organizations in Brazil, China, Jamaica, Poland, Portugal, and Taiwan. He regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in human sexuality. He was previously a faculty member at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota, as well as a public high school health science and biology teacher. He endowed at Indiana University, for perpetuity, the world’s first professorship in sexual health, the William L. Yarber Professorship in Sexual Health. He also endowed Ryan White and William L. Yarber Lecture Series.

Crosby, R.A., Milhausen, R.R., Sanders, S.A., Graham, C.A., Yarber, W.L. (in press). Condoms are more effective when applied by males: A study of young Black males in the United States. Annals of Epidemiology 2014;24:868-870.